Call it what it is

Some euphemisms are patently absurd. After seven decades, Japanese officials finally gave a reluctant apology to the South Korean survivors who were kidnapped, imprisoned and brutally raped by Japanese soldiers during World War II. This happened to tens of thousands of girls/women as Nipponese soldiers conquered across eastern Asia.

Sadly, news articles still refer to the places where these victims were held as “government-run brothels.” That is ridiculous! They were raperies, pure and simple! No other term applies. Such raperies, on a smaller scale, have been operated in many war-torn lands. Perhaps if we used the accurate term, rapery, the crime would begin to diminish.